Chapter 18: There’s No Denying It

Rodrick’s eyes widened in shock.

Meanwhile, Camilla’s treats spilled out heavily from her sunken eyes.

“Lord Urien is just…too beautiful… But he’s…an Omega…and that Urien Martritz…”

‘——This…’

“The devil…! Aaah… Just…what am I even saying…? Aaaah…”

‘Someone like this has been living in the estate?’

Five years. For five whole years such a person had been living in this estate that Theobald managed.

And for three months, he had been entrusting Urien to such a person.

A wave of dizziness struck Rodrick as he stumbled. At that moment, “Your Excellency,” Theobald called out in a low tone. Once again, he directed his gaze at Camilla.

‘Because he is beautiful?’

‘That’s all?’

‘…I see.’

No matter how fiercely he charged through the battlefield, dyeing them with the enemies’ blood and corpse, if such a fool was loitering around in his own estate, it felt like all his effort was for nothing.

He had thought that it’d be best to leave the matter of the estate to those who live there. That as long as he was out there fighting, everyone would be safe.

That was what he believed.

But, he was wrong.

The image of Urien’s pale face as he laid down unconscious flashed in his mind.

His body was cold, as if he had died.

‘It’s happening again.’

‘No matter which path I had chosen, it was wrong.’

“Urien is an Edel.”

His voice was swallowed by Camilla’s unrestrained cry.

‘It has only been three months, and yet…’

‘Perhaps making Urien an Edel has been a mistake.’

“…Are they all of her confidants?”

His vision turned white, he almost felt faint. So he asked that as he turned around, staring at the five maids imprisoned in the cell opposite of Camilla’s, trying to regain his composure.

With the list of servants that the chief butler provided in his hand, he checked the five maids’ names. There were thirteen of them assigned to the west wing, and among them, six including the head maid were involved in this incident. It seemed the remaining seven could only watch from the sidelines, unable to oppose the head maid.

“Do her words just now align with what you’ve heard from her?”

Rodrick asked Theobald, who nodded once after giving Camilla a sideway glance.

“…During my interrogation, she provided an entirely different reason as to why she drove Lord Urien away, but it’s clear that her answer just now was her true feelings. Her denial of being a spy from another country however, is consistent.”

“What was that different reason?”

“In her deranged state, she went on, rambling about how she just wanted to uphold the house’s dignity, but it was clearly just an excuse. As he stated earlier, the real reason was probably…because she was jealous of Lord Urien.”

“Uphold the house’s dignity?”

‘A mere maid dares to involve herself in the house’s matters?’ Rodrick frowned, turning to Theobald who nodded while saying, “Urien Martritz.”

“There are some disgraceful rumors spreading around about Lord Urien. The head maid probably heard about them.”

“Those rumors spread this far?”

Rodrick had attended balls hosted by the king before, but never ones hosted by other nobles. He was aware that the rumors about Urien circulated among the nobles, but he didn’t expect that such crude, unpleasant rumors that could be disproven easily by a little investigation had spread to his own estate.

“It seems like the rumors have been circulating among the servants in the west wing.”

“…”

Rodrick placed his fingers on his brows before letting out a sigh.

The rumors that circulated among the nobles had next to no credibility. And yet, these mere servants dared to treat them as truth and acted upon the duke’s consort over those rumors. The chief butler, who was standing next to Rodrick, sent a frustrated glare at Camilla as he muttered, “I am ashamed,” before kneeling before Rodrick.

“Please forgive me, Your Excellency.”

Eugen, who had been holding the position of chief butler for years, had a distorted expression with tears in his eyes. He used to be an extremely thorough man, but seeing how such an incident occurred, it was clear that his age had started to get to him. The revelation left Rodrick with an empty feeling. 

It felt as if the mansion had grown older, just like the butler.

Still wearing the same expression, Eugen bowed his head.

“You can put all the blame on this old man, Your Excellency. I took Camilla’s report at face value…”

“No, I too, should’ve been more attentive and realized sooner that it was Lord Urien who lived in that shed, Your Excellency.”

Theobald followed suit and bowed his head too. At his words, everyone else’s faces turned pale as their bodies trembled in fear..

Rodrick still didn’t know how Theobald and Urien met. The way he shouted ‘Yuri!’ from before was still vivid in his ears. This younger brother of his had been trying his best to not involve himself with people who were close to him, so he naturally didn’t know what Urien looked like. For now, it was safe to assume that they met while not knowing each other and they had grown quite close. In any case, he’d pursue this matter later in the future.

His body was still soaked from the rain. Cold water ran down from his hair down his neck.

“One of the former butlers, Roselle, is currently recuperating in the capital. Notify him that his daughter, Camilla, has been imprisoned.”

“Understood.”

Theobald answered without hesitation. But somehow, his reaction made Rodrick’s heart ache a little, and that killed his momentum a little.

“…Sorry, Theobald.”

Roselle, said former butler, retired just five years ago. He was someone who had always stayed at Theobald’s side ever since he was a kid in the place of his absent father and elder brother. After the butler’s retirement, his daughter, Camilla, had taken the vacant head maid position.

This appointment was something that Rodrick had personally asked Roselle for, and it was probably the reason why the woman got carried away. After all, the duke himself had gone out of his way to promote her—even though it was due to her father’s achievements rather than she herself.

And this decision of his led to this; Theobald had to deliver the sad news personally to the one person he was close with.

“This is not something you should apologize for, Your Excellency.”

Theobald stated firmly before continuing.

“I also judged her worth by the worth of her father. It was my naivety that led to this.”

Indeed.

One shouldn’t judge someone’s worth by their parents’ worth.

That was how it should be.

After the ceasefire with Belmania, the house’s business had been booming, and this led to both Theobald and the chief butler to be completely occupied with work—both concerning things within the duchy and matters with Belmania. Since neither of them had the lenience to take care of Urien, Rodrick decided to leave him to the head maid, not knowing that she was this kind of woman.

In any case, they’d need to hire a more competent head maid, butlers and maids so that the estate’s affairs could run properly. “Tell Dieter to come to my study,” after leaving such a message to a knight, Rodrick turned to face Theobald again.

“We will discuss the matter of punishments of these criminals later. Let’s visit Urien first.”

He couldn’t help but wonder, what would his parents do in this situation?

His father would definitely execute Camilla without hesitation, while his mother, considering how attentive she was, would’ve prevented such an incident from happening in the first place.

‘But I can’t do either…’

‘I’m tired…’

“Your Excellency, Lord Urien has just woken up.”

Inside the medical room where Urien was at, there was the military doctor, an elderly doctor, the nurses, and a maid whose hair was all wet.

“Yu—A-Ahem… I heard Urien has woken up?”

Theobald ran over to the bed’s side and knelt down.

Meanwhile, the military doctor saluted Rodrick and the elderly doctor bowed his head before providing an explanation.

“Yes, but he fell asleep again not long after. There are no visible wounds, but he has a fever. It appears that he drank some water from the river, so we’ll be checking him further to see if he has any infection.”

Urien’s complexion had improved slightly as he was sleeping. His cheeks were noticeably redder than before, while his lips were slightly parted, breathing heavily.

Rodrick glanced at Urien before turning back to face the doctor again.

“Did he say anything when he woke up?”

“Nothing in particular.”

The elderly doctor answered without any change in expression, but Rodrick could tell that the face of the young nurse behind him slightly stiffened.

He turned his gaze towards the nurse, saying, “Me and Theobald are still wet from the rain, prepare some towels for us,” then he turned to the maid with a, “As for you.”

“Y-Yes.”

“You’ve changed your clothes, but your hair is still wet. Dry it. You, get her a towel too.”

He directed the last part of his sentence to the nurse. After that, both the maid and the nurse retreated from the room.